


Seeing Things

by redradioflyer



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M, Psychic Abilities, Spirits, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-23 22:26:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17088893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redradioflyer/pseuds/redradioflyer
Summary: Matt has always been able to see spirits, but when he finally meets someone else with his ability, that person, Alfred, is deathly scared of the things that he sees.





	Seeing Things

“His penchant of talking to faeries is your fault, I’ll have you know dearest,” Marianne says to Arthur. Her husband just rolls his eyes.

“Of course you’d think so. It’s just an imaginary friend.”

Matt is reading a book on the floor, and he looks up at his parents. Matt- now 8 and a half- had always had a rather serious personality, and so the insistence of talking to imaginary friends is rather a startling thing for his parents.

“Matthew’s not a fairy,” the little boy says, voice steady and truthful. “He’s a spirit… but not like a ghost spirit. Like a heavenly spirit. He can talk to plants and animals.”

“Of course, of course,” Marianne replies with an indulgent expression. “You’re just like your dear father.”

“I don’t know why you pretend not to believe in fairies,” Arthur grouches. “I’ve shown them to you, haven’t I?”

His parents fall to bickering in a sweet playful way that Matt is used to. He looks over at the cute blonde boy that looks about his age stretched out next to him on the carpet.

“Not everyone believes,” the spirit says in a small shy voice. “And that’s alright. I’m just glad I have you to be my friend.”

Matt smiles at him. “We’ll always be friends.”

—

If there’s one thing that Matt learns growing up, it’s that you don’t talk to spirits in public. He learns, through no small effort, to speak to the spirits straight into their minds. It had startled spirits when he’d been young because it was apparently rather hard to master such a thing. Honestly, it probably had a lot to do with his strange arrangement with Matthew.

On the day Matt wandered into the woods and found Matthew, the spirit had been fading in and out of existence. His power wasn’t strong enough for the task of healing a squirrel that was badly injured, and the spirit seemed ready to fade entirely just to help it.

This is when Matt had found him, and the spirit had explained if they made a pact, then Matthew could save the little animal without using up the last of his energies. They were both young, and if they made such a pact, his power would be stronger. So, of course, Matt said yes, and he let the little spirit lead him in strange old words that left them tied together. They were both stronger for it, and Matt had never regretted it.

It was simply that he had a rather unorthodox childhood friend. That was all. For him, it wasn’t that weird though. Spirit always seemed like a bad word to him, because he could touch Matthew, see him pick things up, as though he were any other child most of the time. But as Matt realized really quickly, the human mind is strange. If a person didn’t think something was possible, they simply couldn’t process it. Matthew could be standing there playing with a ball, and no one would even see the ball. It is so far out of their realm of understanding that most just block it out.

For those that are more sensitive- like his parents- they can eventually see evidence of supernatural creatures. Perhaps they can’t see the spirits themselves but they can see them interacting with the environment. They became aware slowly, and then they finally accepted that Matt really could see something they couldn’t. Maybe it comes from a father who can see fairies, but both his parents found a way to help him deal with the things that he saw. It made his life quite a bit easier, because Matt met more such spirits- of all sorts actually. He didn’t get along with them all, but some, like Matthew, stayed with him.

Amelia is one of those that rather preferred his company, and it’s her who inadvertently starts Matt down a rather unexpected path.

“Oh he’s cuuuute~” the spirit says. A vibrant little fire spirit, Amelia is floating along next to him, little tendrils of fire curling up into the air every now and again. She likes the look of them, and she’s practically lounging in the air on her side when her eyes find this ‘cuuuuute’ person.

Matt and Matthew turn at once to see a sweet faced blonde man. He’s got bright blue eyes and smile that could make anyone melt. Still, Matt is only distracted by his looks for a moment. What he notices more immediately is the spirit hovering at this man’s side. This spirit has a shock of purple-ish red hair, tan skin, and a rather ferocious little frown. After a few more moments of quiet watching, Matt understands.

“Ooooh, better than I thought. That lil water spirit next to him is jealous,” Amelia coos. “I don’t think he’s got much to worry about though. He’s cuter than the human by a mile.”

Matthew rolls his eyes and starts to speak, but he looks up to see Matt’s expression.  Starstruck- that’s the only word for what Matt is. Matthew can hardly blame him either, because in all their time together they hadn’t found anyone else with spirit companions much less someone who could see them. Hope and joy is blossoming in Matt’s heart, and Matthew can feel it clearly because of their connection. Perhaps, finally, Matt had found a human who would fully understand him.

Before Matthew can think of a good excuse to go over, the woman who’d be flirting with the human shouts in surprise. Apparently, her coffee just leaped up out of her cup to splash down along the front of her dress. Amelia laughs loud at the woman’s expression, and Matthew gasps in horror. That was clearly the water spirit’s doing, and for Amelia at least, it was a joke well played.

The girl rushes off, and wordlessly Matt walks forward. Amelia and Matthew exchange sly glances before following after him. The man’s face is a little pinched and sad, but he’s not scolding the clear guilty party standing right at his side.

“Hello,” Matt says then, and the man looks up.

His big baby blues light up and he smiles at him. “Oh! Hello! Did you need something?”

Matt’s cheeks turn a little pink. “Just wanted to talk. I’m Matt.”

“Cool! I’m Alfred,” the man says back, and his eyes slide over to Matthew and Amelia. “And who’s your frie—.” He freezes then, and all three of them watch as the man’s eyes focus and unfocus as he examines Matthew and Amelia.

Confused by his expression, Amelia blows a kiss to him- a little red bit of flame sparking out between her fingers and lips to hang in the air like a sizzling heart for just a moment. Fear comes into Alfred’s face and he takes a step back, running into the spirit behind him. The other tries to catch his elbow, but Alfred is panicking now, breathing heavy. He looks from the water spirit to Matt to Matthew and then to Amelia.

Then Alfred’s eyes roll back in his head and he passes out. The water spirit catches him, with Matt moving instantly to help hold him up.

“God you really did it now,” the spirit says. “Alfred’s afraid of spirits and magic and ghosts. It’ll be forever until I calm him down enough to notice me again.” Then the spirit sighs long and low. “Just help me take him home.

—

Carrying an unconscious man up to his apartment isn’t really what Matt had planned to do today, but he does it as best he can. He gets the man to his bed and lays him down gently in it. Tommy-  the water spirit had introduced himself on the way over- comes close and peers down at Alfred, stroking his fingers along his cheek gently before he lets out a breath.

Then he turns and goes back to Alfred’s living room, pausing at the door to say, “It’s only a matter of time for sunshine to recover from his shock, so you should leave him alone.”  

Matt still sits at his side for a moment, looking down into this man’s face. He’d seemed so happy talking and laughing with a spirit close at his side. Matt tries to imagine being scared of spirits- all spirits, even gentle Matthew and teasing Amelia. It’s hard to consider such a perspective, especially knowing that the man wouldn’t be able to stop his gift even if he tried.

Finally, Matt stands and goes back to the living room. Tommy has relaxed back into an arm chair, and he sizes him up.  

“So, you said your name was Matt?” he starts before looking to the nature spirit and the fire spirit currently admiring Alfred’s apartment. “And your spirits? What are their names?”

“Amelia and Matthew at your service~” Amelia says before Matt can respond, and she floats down to sit on the arm of Tommy’s chair and lean over him. She gives him a teasing smile. “I’ve always liked water spirits~ Opposites attract and all that.”

“And are you Amelia or Matthew?” Tommy asks.

“I’m the girl obviously! I’m Amelia!” she responds, looking offended.

Then Tommy smiles, and his body changes subtly, gently, hair for a moment seeming to grow and curl more around his face. “I make no assumptions about gender,” Tommy says then, voice light and feminine and sweet.

The huffiness disappears from Amelia’s face, and she looks more interested in him than ever. “Ohhhh~ I see. That’s quite alright then.”

Tommy relaxes back into his more masculine persona, and he looks over at the other two. It’s quiet for a moment, and Matt moves to sit on the couch. Matthew joins him, and he pats his hand in a soothing way. Being connected the way that they were, he knows Matthew can feel the uncertainty, worry, and guilt of making a cute man pass out like that in the middle of the afternoon.

“Neat trick,” Matt says, not unkindly. “Can you tell me what’s wrong with your friend?”

“Oh right yeah,” Tommy says as he watches Matthew lean against Matt’s side. “Big boy in there is scared of spirits. He’s been able to see us since he was little…like you I suppose.” He shrugs. “But it’s not a gift he’s been very accepting of.”

Matt looks down at his fingers as if he thought that might be the case here. He hesitates and wonders what he himself would be like- feel like- if he hadn’t accepted himself when he was young. 

“You were lucky,” Matthew says to Matt softly. “Your parents helped you out a lot when you were a kid.”

Tommy shakes his head. “It’s a little more complicated than that actually. Sunshine in there has a witch for a mother, and a father who’s more perceptive than most humans.”

Still at his side, Amelia runs her hands through Tommy’s hair and looks down into his face. “Then what’s the issue?”

Although Tommy turns red at the attention, it makes Matt smile just a bit. Amelia had always been affectionate, and she isn’t very subtle. She’d approved of the little water spirit’s coffee stunt, and she was already taking a liking to him. Amelia always makes her approval very well known, and this has the water spirit blushing and looking a bit confused by the attention.

“He almost died when he was a kid,” Tommy says. “And I fished him out of a river and saved him.” He blushes at this. “Before that things were great. We were friends, we talked and played and had fun. I had to bind myself to him to keep him alive, and even then it was okay at first. But his near death encounter had him seeing ghosts.”

“And that’s when he started becoming scared?”

“Yeah… He saw the dead and they could touch him and interact with him very directly. Some of them were violent. It got to the point where he couldn’t really tell spirits and ghosts apart. Then kids at school made fun of him for saying he could see supernatural stuff, and between the fear of violent ghosts and the shame of being made fun of… he trained himself bit by bit not to see us so clearly. He’s blocking his power. He can still see me and other spirits… sometimes. But usually he blocks us out.”

“Awww,” Amelia said. “You bound yourself to a human who won’t interact with you anymore. That must be awful lonely and boring, you poor sweetie.”

Tommy sighs sadly, but he does smile a little. “I could break the connection if I wanted to. But I don’t. I.. well obviously I care about golden boy up there. I’m the one that’s been keeping ghosts and monsters away from him.” His expression gets darker. “Like that demon in human skin trying to get to him this morning. They come around all the time- someone with power like Alfred’s training to ignore it and not develop it or get more powerful… They make good targets for possession.”

Matthew is the one to look surprised now. “The woman this morning was a demon? That’s why you splashed coffee on her. To get her to go away.”

“Not a strong plan, I admit,” Tommy says. “I needed to get her away from him long enough to get him to leave the area. I didn’t expect a different weird brigade to show up and shock him so bad.”

Amelia pouts and floats away from him then, to settle in next to Matt instead. “We’re not that weird!”

“To Alfred you are,” Tommy says with a shrug. “And that’s what matters.”

There’s a long pause, and Matt is quiet. He’s lost in thought and he’s not really liking the mental picture he has of Alfred’s life. To live scared but also vulnerable… without someone to understand him and with angry ghosts hurting him from time to time. Even with a supportive family, such a thing would be really hard.

Before Matt can say any of these thoughts, Tommy jumps up. “Alfred is waking up. The spirits need to hide somewhere. He thought you were humans before, and I’m not completely sure that he’ll be able to see you but…”

“You don’t want to scare him~ I understand.” Amelia says before she winks and vanishes from sight, though there’s a dip in the couch giving her away.

Matthew and Tommy follow suit fading into air. Then Alfred exits his bedroom, rubbing his eyes and looking confused.

“How’d I get back home….? Oh…I remember you!” Alfred says as he looks at Matt. “You were at the park… then… then…” He raises a hand to rub at his temples, eyes glazing over just a little bit. “I don’t remember after that.”

Matt stands and walks over to him, towering over him a little bit and looking down seriously into his eyes. “My fire spirit blew a kiss at you, and you passed out. Your water spirit, Tommy- the one who saved you from the river-, he showed me how to bring you home.”

The blunt truth has Alfred’s expression turning to one of horror, and then Tommy reappears with anger in his face, approaching Matt like he’s ready to protect his sweet sunshine.  Alfred takes two steps back, and Matt catches up with him. He cups the side of his face, looking seriously into his eyes.

“I can see them too- the spirits, Tommy, the weird things no one ever believes you about,” he continues then. “And I’m going to help you learn to control your powers.” Alfred is stammering, but then Matt pulls him into a bear hug, rubbing his back. “You don’t have to deal with the magic alone anymore.”

For a second it seems like Alfred might shove him off, shout at him. But then his blue eyes fill with tears, and he hugs Matt tight. Matthew and Amelia have reappeared too, staring at the two humans in fascination. That was the longest speech they’d heard from the usual quiet taciturn Matt for a long while, and it’s left them at a loss for words.

Sure, Alfred does eventually get skittish and pretends to not really understand what Matt is talking about, but it’s clear that Alfred doesn’t intend to give up this chance at having someone who believes him, someone giving him a chance at better control. It would be interesting to say the least, and Amelia is keen to get to know both the water spirit and his cute human much much better.

**Author's Note:**

> left a bit open so you can enjoy in whatever flavor of poly you enjoy


End file.
